Momservation: If you could bottle up the combined energy of kids and puppies, there would be no need for nuclear energy – it’s already wiped out my house.

☺        ☺        ☺

                        You’d think this would be the face of innocence.  
                                            

There’s been a lot of frustration, tears and anger at our house lately, and I’m not just talking me losing it with puppy training.

No, it’s kids vs. puppy and the casualties are mounting.

Nothing has been chewed up or destroyed, at least not on my watch, thank goodness. There is no way I want to deal with the fall-out of a favorite blankie or stuffed animal meeting a vicious and untimely end.

It’s been more like sniper shots. Quick, lethal and totally unexpected.

Like a baby, Darby – 12 weeks, gets overstimulated, overtired and overexcited and rather than crying, she gets nippy. I’ve learned to watch for the signs and remove her from the situation, but the kids still need to learn to watch their backs.

What my kids, Logan - 10 and Whitney – 8, just don’t understand is their behavior affects Darby’s behavior. They’re hyper, she’s hyper. They run, she runs. They’re loud, noisy and full of energy – she’s right there with them barking, jumping, eager to play – rough and with razor sharp baby teeth.

And as hard as they try to be the boss and redirect her behavior, she sees them as big puppies, playmates, equals. They can try to give their deepest and most authoritative “No!” but their young, high pitched voices just don’t carry any weight.

So in the fight for who’s the Alpha Dog in the bunch, well, Darby’s winning.

I can work on her manners all day with great success, but the second the kids come tumbling in the house from school all excited to play with their puppy, everything goes out the window without their cooperation and consistency.

I don’t blame my kids. Who wants to be calm and authoritative around a fuzzy, adorable, excitable lump of squirming love?

Unfortunately, they’re learning the hard way they need to be.

To date Logan has 30 scratches, 3 bites (one on the nose) and one favorite football jersey with a hole in it. Two of those incidents brought my tough guy to tears.

Whitney has 29 scratches, 2 bites and about a dozen shirts with holes in them plus a nightgown. My rough tough cream puff has also been brought to tears twice.

So what have we all learned from this?

Either learn to play by Puppies for Dummies rules or be dominated by a 24-pound deliciously cute pooch who isn’t afraid to bring you to tears with an innocent, yet perfectly placed sniper shot of puppy teeth.

Either that or keep a low profile until the puppy teeth fall out.